Three reported ODs at three Taunton businesses within past week

Police say they responded to three drug-related overdoses this week at local businesses.

Charles Winokoor Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter @cwinokoor

TAUNTON — Police say they responded to three drug-related overdoses this week at local businesses.

Two of the OD calls were on Tuesday.

Police that day responded shortly before 4 p.m. to the parking lot of Uno Pizzeria & Grill at 904 County St., for a report of an unconscious man slumped over in the driver seat of his car with the radio playing.

The 40-year-old Derby Court man, police said, was revived by firefighters using the opiate antidote Narcan. They said he denied having taken drugs and was transported to Morton Hospital for evaluation.

No illegal drugs were found in the man’s sedan, police said.

A background check, police said, indicated that the registration for the vehicle had expired and was not eligible for renewal.

Police also say they discovered that the man does not have a valid Massachusetts driver’s license.

Earlier that day, at 8:45 a.m., police went to Star Food Mart at 93½ Plain St. for a report of a man on the ground who had overdosed.

The 33-year-old Porter Street man was treated on scene by fire department and Brewster Ambulance personnel before being transported to Morton Hospital, police said.

A woman standing next to a Cadillac SUV told police that the driver of the Cadillac, in which she was a passenger, pulled over to check on the unconscious man.

The 42-year-old woman, however, said her friend ran off so as to avoid any interaction with police officers.

On Wednesday, police got a call that a woman had overdosed in the ladies room of the McDonald’s restaurant at 282 Winthrop St.

Patrolman Thomas Larkin, in his report, says when he walked into the bathroom he saw Brewster Ambulance personnel trying to treat the 32-year-old woman — who Larkin said was flailing her arms “wildly” and acting in a “very animated and irrational” manner.

Police previously have said that such behavior is oftentimes indicative of someone who has ingested so-called synthetic marijuana, or “spice,” rather than heroin or fentanyl.

Larkin said he and another officer held down the woman’s arms and conducted a pat frisk “for our own safety.”

Police didn’t find any synthetic pot, but they said they confiscated several used syringes and crack-cocaine pipes from her pockets.

The officers, at the request of the two paramedics, escorted the woman to the Brewster ambulance.

Throughout the entire incident, Larkin wrote, the woman was uncooperative and refused to tell emergency responders or police what type of drugs she had ingested.

Police have said the number of reported overdoses in 2017 is down compared to 2016, and that so far this year there have been two fatalities suspected of being drug-related.